Screen Printing - December 2012/January 2013 - (Page 16)

SOLUTION SOURCE BOOK STAGING GARMENT-PRINTING JOBS taging is the gathering of required tools and materials in a physical location in readiness for the succeeding steps of the production process. Staging is the key to proper production planning for garment screen printers. This primer will help you start staging your garment jobs effectively. Staging a garment-printing run involves an assembly of screens, inks, substrates, and press accessories in a designated area. Staging a garment job allows you to move bottlenecks, point out capacity shortfalls, check job components for process control, plan rather than react, shorten press-changeover times, and destage. Bottlenecks It may sound crazy, but having a bottleneck isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you can choose where it occurs. There will always be a bottleneck in any workflow. It’s the step in the process that limits the amount of finished product—in this case, printed garments—that can be manufactured in a given time frame. The press is usually the most critical piece of equipment for screen printers, and this is where you want to have a bottleneck. For example, if you have a prepress department that can produce more than enough finished screens for your presses, then the bottlenecks is at the press. The press is the one piece of equipment in the shop that produces decorated garments that can be shipped and invoiced. If the press runs at full capacity, you will make more money than if the press runs only part of the time. None of the other departments can claim to produce finished goods that immediately available to increase cash flow. There are different approaches to moving and controlling a bottleneck. Sometimes, adding a shift to a particular department will suffice. Other times, additional personnel, equipment, space, or all three become necessary. The decision is based on the amount of additional capacity you need and how long you need it. A staging system, when properly carried out, allows one production run to leapfrog another in a set time schedule without an impact on press downtime. It keeps the presses running when a screen breaks or other unscheduled interruptions occur. Capacity shortfalls A working staging system is the only way to obtain efficiency when there is production imbalance between departments. It smoothes the production peaks and valleys of the supporting organizations and ensures the opportunity to use each press to its fullest capacity at all times. Each department must respond to production planning according to its capability and the production requirements. What happens when a department can’t keep up with other departments or the printing press? If you’re staging at the press, it is immediately apparent which component is missing. In essence, you now have a capacity shortfall—a bottleneck—where you 16 SCREENPRINTING S don’t want one. You must address this shortfall immediately; otherwise, the remaining materials in staging will have no value. Checking for process control As soon as an order is entered into the system, each department should be aware of the order and what is involved in filling it. Each should also know when its component products are expected at the staging location. Here’s a list of some of the necessary information for each job that specific departments need to know. • Garment inventory: the kind of garment, fabric content, number of pieces, and size ranges • Art/film: the size of the design, number of colors, any special placement of the design on the garment, and, possibly, sizerange patterns • Ink: the color-matching information, run length, specialty inks that may be involved, and sample fabric for testing • Screenmaking: the number of colors, size of the design, run length, substrate (for mesh count and frame size), and projected dates for art completion and print production • Printing: all the information that the other departments require so that a press, squeegees, platens, etc., may be selected for the print run. DESCRIPTION Job name: _______________ Job #: ____________________ Press: ___________________ PLATEN SIZE: Sleeve Adult size T-sleeve SCHEDULE Date of run: _______________ Start of run:_______________ Pieces: ___________________ Pant Other: Child size Shorts Jumbo PRESS ACCESSORIES: Color Name Color Number Squeegee Width Squeegee Durometer Floodbar Width FIGURE 1 Press-accessory staging enables you to get more accessories ready ahead of time for the press crew, thereby making press setup more efficient.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - December 2012/January 2013

Screen Printing - December 2012/January 2013
Contents
Prepress for Special-Effect Garment Printing
Tips for Optimum Screen Exposure
Maximizing Image Size and Position
Understanding Screen-Tension Loss
A Look at Screen Lift-Off
Staging Garment-Printing Jobs
How to Control Dye Migration
Fine Tuning for Fine Details
Application-Specific Considerations for Graphics Printers
Upping the Ante at SGIA 2012
Statement of Ownership
U.S. & Canadian Directory
Opportunity Exchange
Advertising Index

Screen Printing - December 2012/January 2013